Jet2 flight diverted: Airline bans 'disruptive' passenger, 20, for life after attacking cabin crew and forcing aircraft to emergency land

A major airline has taken the decision to ban a passenger for life after he exhibited violent behaviour and attacked crew members and passengers. Jet2 has banned Jay Dalziel, 20, from Motherwell for life and intends to recover a substantial five-figure sum in incurred costs.

It follows a severe incident involving Mr Dalziel on a flight from Glasgow to Tenerife on Wednesday (12 June). His behaviour forced the aircraft to make an emergency diversion to Shannon Airport so that he could be taken into police custody.

Jet2 said Mr Dalziel began to show disruptive and aggressive behaviour shortly after take-off, with his behaviour escalating to the point of physically attacking cabin crew as well as other customers on the aircraft. After diverting to Shannon Airport, Garda officers boarded to offload him and take him into custody.

The airline has confirmed that it will vigorously pursue Mr Dalziel for the recovery of all costs incurred by this diversion, which will be a five-figure sum. After Mr Dalziel was offloaded, a standby aircraft and crew were immediately flown to Shannon Airport to take customers to Tenerife.

Phil Ward, Managing Director of Jet2.com, said: “This is one of the worst cases of disruptive passenger behaviour that we have ever witnessed, and we would like to apologise to all colleagues and customers onboard for what they had to experience. It is a disgrace that hardworking customers, families and colleagues should be subjected to such appalling behaviour and we will vigorously pursue Mr Dalziel for all the costs that we incurred as a result of this diversion, as well as banning him for life.”

“We would also like to thank customers and colleagues who helped deal with Mr Dalziel onboard, as well as Garda for their assistance in offloading him. We will support them fully with their investigations and Mr Dalziel should be prepared to face severe consequences for his actions. This event should act as a stark warning to anyone who thinks that it might be acceptable to behave in such an unacceptable manner onboard one of our flights. Thankfully, the overwhelming majority of customers enjoy their flights and continue to have a lovely holiday, and we will continue to work hard to provide our VIP customer service as always.”